A review by library_brandy
Batman: Secrets by Sam Kieth
3.0
Sam Keith has a lot of good ideas. He's just ... well, not a very good writer. His dialogue tends toward the clunky, and he needs an editor like nobody's business. (I had more than a few instances of "huh? who?" in these ~120 pages, as characters morphed from Mooley to Dooley, Deborah to ... Dinah, maybe?)
In this particular story, Batman and the Joker reminisce about old times--particularly, about The Killing Joke and Batman's biggest secret, revealed a little at a time throughout the original five issues--passing the time between flashbacks to Joker's parole from prison and his subsequent framing of Batman-as-villain in the court of public opinion. It's an interesting idea, but it doesn't work. Keith's pacing doesn't gel with the Batman universe and he seems to have only a cursory idea of how the characters speak.
While he tries to keep his art style close to the gritty noir Batman requires, there are occasional bursts of Maxx-esque bright, bold colors--yellows, hot pinks, the occasional electric blues. It throws off the visual rhythm of the page, with all the focus going to (say) a blanket, instead of the action happening in the shadows.
Where this book does shine, though, is Keith's depiction of The Joker. While Keith's Batman looks almost cartoony, his Joker rivals Dave McKean's in pure creepiness. Yikes, this is a scary-looking Joker--even when he's just sitting around at home doing nothing.
In this particular story, Batman and the Joker reminisce about old times--particularly, about The Killing Joke and Batman's biggest secret, revealed a little at a time throughout the original five issues--passing the time between flashbacks to Joker's parole from prison and his subsequent framing of Batman-as-villain in the court of public opinion. It's an interesting idea, but it doesn't work. Keith's pacing doesn't gel with the Batman universe and he seems to have only a cursory idea of how the characters speak.
While he tries to keep his art style close to the gritty noir Batman requires, there are occasional bursts of Maxx-esque bright, bold colors--yellows, hot pinks, the occasional electric blues. It throws off the visual rhythm of the page, with all the focus going to (say) a blanket, instead of the action happening in the shadows.
Where this book does shine, though, is Keith's depiction of The Joker. While Keith's Batman looks almost cartoony, his Joker rivals Dave McKean's in pure creepiness. Yikes, this is a scary-looking Joker--even when he's just sitting around at home doing nothing.